Exclusive: Genies to create AI avatars of MLB stars
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Avatar technology company Genies has partnered with MLB Players, Inc., the business arm of the Major League Baseball Players Association, to create AI characters of its players, CEO Akash Nigam exclusively tells Axios.
Why it matters: The collaboration redefines how players can connect with fans and how they can monetize their likeness in the AI era.
How it works: Genies will use its proprietary technology to generate interactive AI companions of MLB players and is working with the MLBPA on their approved rights for data sets on name, image and likeness to create the avatars.
- The experience is exclusively chat via text or voice. All the players in the league can have an avatar, which will be available on Genies.com. But in the future, they potentially could be used through third-party apps that use Genies' SDK.
- Monetization could include paid chats or digital goods. Players also could choose to use their avatar in sponsorships.
Context: Founded in 2017, Genies' early efforts included personalized digital avatars reenacting news and then digital avatars for celebrities like Justin Bieber.
- In 2022, Genies raised a $150 million Series C at a $1 billion valuation, including from Disney's Bob Iger, who also was a board member. That funding came at a time when metaverse and web3 were popular vernacular. But the concept of avatars has persisted.
- "Genies is looking to own the visual layer for all LLM experiences," Nigam says. "We believe that every single human on Earth ... is going to have some avatar representation, and we believe that you're going to interface with the internet through these AI avatars."
- While it previously took eight weeks and five staffers to generate one avatar, Genies can now auto-generate avatars. It makes money by licensing its tech. It has three SDKs, one of which is in the Unity store.
The big picture: IP owners like sports leagues and athletes are exploring AI as a new creative tool and commercial opportunity.
- "Typically an artist or a player gets scared of an AI replica of themselves because they don't want to be replaced," Nigam says. "Because of the stylized avatar, a fan knows."
- When it comes to chatbots, there is also hesitation over potential brand safety issues. Meta's AI chatbots, voiced by celebrities like John Cena, participated in sexualized conversations, as the Wall Street Journal reported last year.
- Genies' system restrict topics such as child exploitation, sex and violence and can tailor conversation limits according to an organization or individual's preferences, Nigam says.
What's next: Genies has signed with 10 major partners across music, entertainment and sports, including MLB Players, Inc., with the rest to be announced in the coming months.
